Welcome to the BJE

15 Av 5769

Friends of the Bureau of Jewish Education,

The BJE has vacated our offices on the JCC Campus in Newton. It has been a difficult process to sift through 90 years of accumulated records (yes, even handwritten minutes of the meetings when the BJE, Hebrew College, and Camp Yavneh were founded), thousands of books and educational resources, videos, plays, posters, and all of the rich treasury of educational materials and ideas that have animated Jewish education in Greater Boston for nine decades.

As painful as the process has been, it has also had its very satisfying moments. Few of us, in the course of our busy daily work lives, have the opportunity to review our cumulative record of achievement. So, as we have filled many dumpsters, preserved hundreds of boxes of important archival materials, and set aside hundreds more files of BJE programs and materials, we have affirmed for ourselves, and for the historical record, that the BJE has indeed accomplished much over the years. Thousands of educators, hundreds of schools, many hundreds of thousand more children and families have benefited from our formal and informal programs, curriculum materials, consultation, and expertise.

Our legacy is definitely secure and anyone taking the time to assess our work intensively will attest to that! And our future is still an open possibility---

For the foreseeable period, we will remain "operational", though obviously with a limited capacity. Our Board of Directors will decide in the next weeks whether to dissolve the agency and its assets or restructure the BJE and continue to operate in some identifiable areas of Jewish educational service.

We are storing our historical archives at the American Jewish Historical Society on the Hebrew College Campus. Other BJE services are being transferred to other agencies (Youth, and David Goldstein, to Hebrew College; Special Education, and Sherry Grossman, to Gateways; Family Education and other services to CJP; and some aspects of our Early Childhood work to Ina Regosin at Hebrew College).

We will continue in a limited way to be accessible by email, telephone (617.965.7350) and mail. Our new address for BJE Print Mail is: BJE, Inc., P.O. Box 600, Brookline, MA 02446. We will soon have a temporary physical office in the same vicinity as our current space and will inform you of our new address shortly.

As a recipient of this message, you should know that you have been a terrific partner with us in our holy mission of strengthening, supporting, and innovating in Jewish education. We thank you for that, and for your continued expressions of support during this difficult period. We hope to count on your friendship and presence in the time ahead.

שלום/Shalom,

Dr. Daniel (Danny) J. Margolis, Exec. Director BJE., Inc.djm@bje.org

BRING JERUSALEM TO YOUR COMMUNITY

We are very excited to offer you the opportunity to host our award winning exhibit, A WALK THROUGH JERUSALEM. Originally created for 'Jerusalem 3000', the exhibit enjoyed much acclaim as it traveled around the country, visited by over 5000 children and adults. Now, updated for the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel, we invite you to bring this exhibit to your community.

A WALK THROUGH JERUSALEM is a hands-on, interactive exhibit for children in grades 2 - 7 and families of all ages. Travel through the eight "Gates of Jerusalem" to explore this unique and timeless city. Explore the history, geography and spirit of the city. Experience the sights, sounds and smells of Jerusalem through a variety of activities, poetry, archaeology, music and games.